November 17, 2010

Mostaccioli

Mostaccioli is a cheesy baked pasta dish, similar to lasagne, but not quite as labor intensive. My mom made it often when I was growing up. And every time she would her eyes would get wide and she'd rub her hands together in delight as she said "I'm making mostaccioli tonight!"

For some reason, I really like using cheddar cheese in this dish instead of mozzarella. Isn't the orange pretty?

Mostaccioli pasta are very similar to penne; the only difference is that they may not be ridged. But if you look close, you'll see that my pasta have ridges, even though they were marked as mostaccioli. So use whatever!

Sauté the pepper, onions, and sausage. Chop and add tomatoes, tomato sauce, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Cook noodles according to package. Place 1/3 meat sauce in bottom of greased 2-qt. pan. Cover with half of noodles, 1/3 remaining meat sauce, and half of cheese. Layer with the rest of noodles, sauce, and cheese; cover the top with all the Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350˚ for 30 minutes uncovered.

4 comments:

I just made this the other night for one of my old roommates by request. Jerry had bought some sweet italian sausage and it gave the dish a whole new flavor. I made sure to add a good amount of crushed red pepper to get the spicy flavor as well. Both my roommate and Jerry said it was the best it's ever been!